TRENCH 001

D DOUBLE E

Limited Edition Zine

It’s finally here, people: TRENCH’s limited edition fanzine!

For the last seven months (we only launched last September), we have been dedicated to uplifting the voices of now, while celebrating the creatives that led us up to this point. So it’s no surprise, then, that our debut cover star is the one and only D Double E!

Ever since the early days of N.A.S.T.Y Crew—alongside Footsie, Kano, Jammer, Bruza and of course Marcus Nasty—D Double E had marked himself out as an icon waiting to be recognised. His flow was—and still is—like no one else’s; he talks like no one else, dresses like no one else. In the truest sense, he is a one off.

For someone with a career as long as D Double E’s there are surprisingly few wrong turns. In fact, he’s one of the most consistent grime MCs on every front. Armed with bars almost as old as grime itself, the Newham General is a formidable mic man and fan favourite in radio sets. Whether it’s in Newham Generals with Footsie (and at one time Monkstar) or by himself, D Double has more signature anthems than most.

I first came across D Double E in 2002 via hand-me-down cassette tapes from school friends, and was luckily sent classics like “Birds In The Sky” and “Serious Thugs” through MSN Messenger; as you can well imagine, it took about seven hours to download each track, but it was definitely worth it. Through online forums, I discovered the legacy of Risky Roadz, Practice Hours, and of course the catalogue of Eskimo Dance visuals—and D Double E stood out from the get-go. The first time I saw the Newham Generals MC perform live was in 2006; we were a small crowd of people who got to witness grime in its rawest essence at Dirty Canvas, in an art gallery next to Buckingham Palace. That was actually one of the first times I met JP, and we got talking over the gas from witnessing Skepta go back-to-back with Frisco and D Double. The atmosphere he created also inspired me to write and pick up a camera and capture the moments that weren’t being documented. Darren Dixon’s musical gift is important, but what really adds to his reputation is his humble and calm aura that unites everyone together. A legend in every sense of the word.

The year’s 2005. I’m 16—at an over 18s rave—and I’m about to experience my first ever grime dance. Along with the likes of Flirta D, Skepta, DJ Cameo and more, D Double E was booked for what was now a rammed-out Club Teeze in Northampton Town. The room shook as Cameo spun Danny Weed’s classic “Creeper” instrumental, and D Double E stepped to the mic. “Oowa-oowa” echoes around the venue, and he receives arguably the best reaction and reload of the night. I wasn’t a grime head before this night—far from it—but it’s safe to say it was a real life-changer for me. Here we are now, more than a decade later, and D Double is still as relevant and revered as he was back then. And having booked him for my own club night, ChockABlock, throughout the years, this MC is where he is today not only because he’s grime’s greatest, but because he’s a real one too—a legend who hasn’t let the fame cloud his reality. And it’s because of all this that we decided to make the East London don TRENCH’s debut cover star! Flick through to read our in-depth interview with D Double E, where we spent two days with him and got to know the man behind the rhymes.